Sous vide whole duck?

We bought a whole frozen vacuum sealed duck. We were thinking about putting the whole thing in the water oven for about 10 hours at 146 degrees. Is that ok to do?

A couple things we weren't sure of is why the cooking temp is so high (176 F) for duck leg compared to breast at 146 F. Is there a safety reason?

Also, do you have to let the duck fully thaw so you can gut it before you cook it or is it safe to gut it after cooking?

By Richard on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 02:45 PM

2 Replies So Far

I'm not sure the best temp to do it whole, we did discuss some in this sous vide duck thread. The temp difference is because 176F is for duck confit, which is cooked at a much higher temp. In general, I do duck breast at 131F because I like it medium-rare, but I haven't done legs before so I'm not sure the ideal temperature.
I'm also not really sure about whether to gut it first or not. I would probably lean towards gutting it before cooking it but someone else might have a better idea than me.
Thanks!

By Jason Logsdon on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 05:37 PM

A good reason to gut it would be due to the gut flora that may well start to produce some interesting results if cooked for a period of time at low temp, i.e. they might spoil the duck before pasteurisation takes place.

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